Veteran Kiros

Kiros is now heading towards 11 years old and is still extremely fit for a GSD cross but over the last few weeks I have noticed signs that he isn't jumping and turning as comfortably as he used to.

Last Tuesday at training both Ann and Margaret (a Vet that trains with us) noticed that he was struggling to "power" with his hind legs.  For the rest of the class I ran him on medium and he started to "power" again.

I've thought long and hard about this and have decided that the time is right to retire Kiros from full height.  It has been a very difficult decision because, as most of you know, although Kiros has slowed from how he used to run he is still a very fast Dog!!  I feel I owe it to him to help him keep running in Agility for as long as possible and am hoping that tunnels will become easier for him when he is not jumping as high.

Today, whilst getting the house sorted before the Xmas decs go up :), I sorted Kiros's rosettes and trophies from the last two years and was amazed how much he had won.  I've got no idea how many rosettes are there but I know that there are over 30 trophies.

I know that I'm the luckiest person ever to have found a Dog like Kiros.  He has achieved more then I could ever have dreamt of and let me experience the thrill of being a winner so many times.

Thanks to Agility Nuts he will still be able to compete on the lower height so I'm sure his winning days aren't yet over. 

Enjoy Veterans my special boy.

My Sad, Neglected Blog:(

As the title suggests I've been a very bad Blogger of late so now it's time for a huge update!!

At the end of October the whole family spent a week at East Rose, nr Bodmin, Cornwall.  The farm was a little remote which was a bit of a culture shock for the teenagers but the Dogs all enjoyed being with each other and we were able to take them on loads of walks even though the weather was a bit variable.

Since we've been back I've really been able to focus on putting Reno's weave and contacts into small courses and I'm extremely happy with how they are progressing. 

November's Agility Nuts show was last Sunday and my plan was to have a go at his weaves in competition there. 

As it happens it didn't quite go according to plan!!  I judged the Agility in the morning and, because of there being a full quota of Dogs entered in the show, I didn't have time to run either boys in Agility. (I did attempt to run Reno around my Elementary course before it was walked but the least said about that the better - let's just say it was a bit early for both of us!!)

Here are my courses.  They all ran better then I had expected but there were only a few clears in Elementary and Starters due to the amount of Dogs that had to be faulted at the weaves.  Comforting for me to know that Reno isn't the only one with a weave problem.

Elementary Agility

Novice + Agility

Starters Agility

Veteran Agility

So both Kiros and Reno ran in the afternoon Jumping classes. 

The Elementary Jumping was quite a straight forward class with no weaves in it so I was confident Reno could run it well and he did.  Unfortunately his silly Mum didn't run to the last jump resulting in him going around it.  I really must learn that he is still a baby.  Tunnel Torment didn't go quite as well as the weaves were next to the tunnels and it didn't take a lot of imagination which Reno would prefer.  Having said that he did do the weaves after going through the tunnels a few times.

Kiros ran a lovely, tricky Tunnel Torment only having one pole down and coming 2nd in the fastest time.

This is the first winter in ages that I haven't been making regular trips up to Myerscough for Agility shows so I've been making good use of my spare time by reclaiming my back garden with the help of Reno and Ronnie.  It tends to go back to nature during the summer months.

But now the Dogs have got plenty of room to play ball and bark at the neighbours:)